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-- H.E. Most. Rev. Paul CREMONA, O.P., Archbishop of Malta, President of the Episcopal Conference (MALTA) I shall be speaking in the context of traditionally Catholic Countries like Malta. Whenever we speak of a new Evangelization, we find a stumbling-block. Many of our faithful still live in nostalgia of, and compare the present situation, with the model of the Church that was present 30 to 40 years ago. Since the Catholic Church has not remained in a privileged position as it was then, they live in an atmosphere of shock when the Church, or its Pastors, are challenged. Many times they stand in fear of speaking openly before this, many times, hostile culture.

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We have to compare the Church today to, and shape it on, that community. We need to go out of this traumatic experience to enter into a new evangelization. We have to help the faithful recognize that that kind of Church does not exist anymore, and it cannot be proposed again in this changed world. We cannot continue comparing our reality to that reality. We have to propose a new model of being Church and the model which corresponds most to today's reality is the primitive Christian community as it is described in chapters 2 and 4 of the Acts of the Apostles, and brought to life in the other writings of the New Testament. We have to compare the Church today to, and shape it on, that community. [Original text: English]